Mumbai: The Mumbai Traffic Police in collaboration with the Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) released the Mumbai Road Safety Report 2018 on Thursday, which states that 475 Mumbaikars lost their lives in 2018, comprising of 243 pedestrians, 194 motorcyclists, 32 three and four-wheeler passengers and six cyclists. Moreover, deaths caused by BEST buses, private buses, school buses and luxury buses reduced by more than 50% from 2015 to 2018.
Living in a country where female drivers are labelled as “callous” and “unsafe”, the data released by BIGRS reveals that male drivers were found at fault in most fatal crashes over the past four years.
Moreover, most number of deaths was among young men aged between 20-29 years, stated the report. Similarly, deaths by gender was similar to that of previous years, with men accounting for 85 per cent of road crash deaths.
Madhukar Pandey, joint commissioner of police (traffic), said that road traffic fatalities have indicated a declining trend in Mumbai over the past few years.
“The decline can be attributed to the evidence-based work and the four-way approach that states enforcement, designing solutions, communication and publicity. In collaboration with BIGRS, we are moving forward to achieve India’s commitment to reduce road crashes and deaths.”
While vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists, made up for 93 per cent of the road crash deaths in the city last year, pedestrians continued to be most affected, comprising 51 per cent of the total deaths.
Dr Sara Whitehead, public health consultant and who works with Vital Strategies, said that the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety aims to stabilise and reduce the forecast level of road traffic deaths around the world.
“Mumbai has reached 22 per cent till 2018, while other parts of the world are struggling to even achieve that mark. The city has important success in reducing the road traffic fatalities in the past five years, and Vital Strategies and BIGRS look forward to continue the partnership to save lives,” Dr Whitehead said.
